San Antonio novelist David Liss writes Marvel’s ‘Mystery Men’

Consider this much solved regarding Marvel Comics’ upcoming Mystery Men — the comic will indeed be written by San Antonio novelist David Liss. And from what the author has to say about the five-issue miniseries, it will rock the early Marvel Universe.

“Essentially it’s set in 1932,” Liss says. “Pushed back by about seven years the origins of costumed, vigilante, urban-crimefighting in the Marvel Universe.”

That means an adventure set in the days before Namor and Captain America. Mystery Men stars characters Liss “crafted with one eye on the pulp tradition and the other eye on the Marvel tradition.” The Operative, basically a pulp Robin Hood, gets set up for his fiancée’s murder. As he hunts for his beloved’s real killer, he encounters other costumed vigilantes like the magic-loving Revenant, the sword-wielding Achilles, the high-flying Aviatrix and the downright creepy Surgeon, whom Liss calls “about as deranged a character as I have ever written in any medium.” (Get a better look at them at CBR.)

They’re all original characters Liss developed. And they’re all officially part of Marvel continuity.

“This is definitely part of the mainstream Marvel Universe,” Liss says.

David Liss (JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net)

That goes for Liss, too. He notes at the recent C2E2 he got quite the love for his current run on Black Panther: The Man Without Fear, which features the noble T’Challa as Hell’s Kitchen substitute guardian for Daredevil.

Liss is certainly the right scribe for the Mystery gig. He’s spent much of his writing career plumbing history for gritty street crime narratives in his novels. And let’s not forget Liss cracked into comics with Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special No. 1, which starred the Golden Age hero the Phantom Reporter. Couple that historical acumen with the fine line art of Patrick Zircher (Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face) and Mystery Men should, well, make some history.